Of those listed I'd take the 303s, and really that's just based on my experience with 404s (and a healthy dose of listening to people talk about their wheels on group rides). The only Stinger rim I've ridden was converted to a disc, and it was fine. The Aeolus have had mixed reviews from the guys I ride/race with.

I would suggest also looking at the Corima Aero+, or for a little extra cash, the Aero+ MCC. I have a set of the Aero+ MCC and they're phenomenal wheels. Spring in New Mexico can get really windy, and I've never been uncomfortable on them in the wind (at 135 lbs). The braking is good (I'm using the Corima cork pads) in the dry and not completely horrible in the wet - if I thought I was going to race in the wet I'd probably use different pads, maybe the Zipp Tangente pads. The braking is at least comparable to my 404FC wheels, and both of those are worlds better than my 3T carbon clinchers.

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http://ironvision.blogspot.com ; @drSteve1663

I love my 303's on my road bike. Don't have any experience with the others.

303 is a nice wheel set. What year are 177/77 hubs?
Enve 3.4 is also worth considering.

I've no substantive contribution re the wheels. But you say you want to ride passes in the dry? I don't know where you live but whenever I climb passes, it can be sunny AF on one side, and ghastly on the other side. Alpine weather is unpredictable. So IMO a climbing set needs to be able to brake in the wet. Maybe your passes have more predictable weather, thats entirely possible. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Thank you for the opinion. Would you mind sharing the nature of "mixed" reviews regarding the aeolus 5? I read mixed things about cross-wind stability and ok, but not outstanding braking. The reason I'd consider them is the amazing weight.

Curious about your choice of rim depth. I'm a couple days away from pulling the trigger on Hed Jets as all-rounders for my road bike and I'm struggling with 4s (46mm) vs 6s (60mm) or a 4/6 combo. Is wind your primary reason for looking at the rim depths you're considering? If so, what do you weigh? I'm a big ole' biggun so I'm thinking 60mm rims are less of an issue.

Sorry if this is a hijack... Not my intent

If you haven't, you should make sure 303s will fit, they won't fit my road bike.

I would go with Stinger 6's.
Slightly more aero than 5's, easy to handle, better resale value than the 5 - don't think the 5's or 7's were ever that popular, kind of 'tweeners.
I've had Stinger 6's in the past with 25mm Vittoria tubulars, the ride was super smooth.

The specific complaints I've heard about the Bontragers have been about the braking. The other mixed reviews have been far more general... the owners just weren't enthusiastic about them. Considering owners of Hed and Zipp wheels are usually enthusiastic, that stuck with me.

Pooks asked a question above on the rim depth... I can answer why I bought the Corima Aero+ MCC (mine are a few years old). They're aero (48mm rim depth), but weigh just over 1000 grams for the set. I race bikes, and we have some pretty steep hills locally that force selections in our races. I also occasionally race hill climbs. For that reason I wanted something light. It turned out that I got a great deal on some tubular 404s a couple of seasons later, and now those are what I use for most races. For the hill climbs? Still the Corimas. If I had to cut down to only one set of race wheels I'd keep the Corimas, because they're reasonably aero and weigh 250-300 grams less than the Zipps.

The deeper rim on the 404 isn't a problem in almost any conditions, even at my weight. At the Tour of the Gila this year the TT was windy enough for me to want a shallower front though. That was crazy windy. I can't think of any conditions when the depth would worry me on the road bike though.

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http://ironvision.blogspot.com ; @drSteve1663

Those are the latest 2016 hubs and I can pick up a set for $1,700. ENVE is clearly out of my price range.


I will ride these wheels mostly in California during the dry season. Wet braking quality obviously an important factor, but it won't be deal breaking.


I think @drsteve described my reasoning perfectly. I'm a weight weenie at heart and I love to climb. It's hard for me to pick anything but the lightest option, but I also value aero and other properties.. On crosswinds: after reading countles contradicting threads, I realized that every rider is different and it comes down personally to you at the end. For me, I realized that I will risk to go a little bit deeper than the reynolds assaults (41mm), but I'm not sure that I'm ready to go above 50mm and deal with the wind on a daily basis. But I can be easily wrong given the minimal experience I have. And the most important thing: I also find wheels between 40-50 the most appealing on road bikes. :P

I was in Bikeworks in Kona this summer and they were selling their 303 FC rentals for 300$ a wheel (if my memory is correct). Nobody wants to rent a tubular, so they were blowing them out. You could check if they still have them. I would have bought them if I didn't already have a set of Stinger 90s that just sit in my basement. I hate gluing expensive tires and swapping brake pads.

If you do go with the Stingers make sure you use the recommended cork pads (I assume they still recommend cork). I thought the braking was very nice with the cork pads. The non-cork carbon pads I tried started to melt under heavy braking and the brakes got very grabby and unpredictable.

Having previously owned 303s and Aeolus 7s, I'd get the 303s in a heart beat. The braking is world's better. The 303 is an incredibly versatile wheel. With the right tire, it's sneaky fast and seems immune to crosswinds.

I'd ditch tubulars and go with clinchers... but that's me.

For tubular I'd get these for $799 USD and 1250g for the set:
http://www.velocite-bikes.com/...nd-wheels-clone.html

Thanks for the comment on braking quality. May I ask what tire you've used with the 303s?

Schwalbe Ironman 22mm with latex tube... which they no longer make :(

I think I would stick with the Zipp tubulars. The latest generation are very competitive in terms of Crr and Zipp's aero design was done in conjunction with the Firecrest rim. It would probably be hard to improve on the package without a lot of work testing tire/rim combos or A LOT of luck.

Thank you all for the answers. Based on the answers I think the obvious pick would be the Zipp 303 FC out of the listed wheels. Unfortunately the fact that it's 1,390g makes me wonder about what the latest carbon clinchers have to offer.

Just got a set of Aeolus 5s for road bike. Braking is as good or better than any other carbons I've tried. Really nice wheels.

Yeah I have the new Aeolus TLRs and they are awesome. And tubeless compatible out of the box. I have several teammates who have them and they love them. I switched from Enve SES and am happy. I wonder if some of the negative comments are directed towards pre-TLR prior generation Aeolus wheels? It might help the OP to make note of exactly which generation Aeolus wheels you are talking about.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

I would also look into Enve 3.4 as a few others have said and Xentis Squad 4.2 as well. I have both Enve and Xentis and both have excellent braking, are stiff, and relatively light weight.

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

Very interesting. I dug up a promo article on bike rumor from 2015 and based on that they haven't changed the tubular rims since they introduced the D3 shape in 2011/2012. I wonder what they changed about the clinchers' braking surface though.


Would you mind sharing the other carbon wheels you have experience with?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I don't have experience on pre-TLR Aeolus wheels, these are my first (I have the 3s and the 5s). So I have no idea whether Bontrager changed the brake track or not. I just know I love my Aeolus wheels.

I switched from 2014ish Enve SES wheels (3.4s and 6.7s). I prefer the braking of the Aeolus wheels (with the Bontrager cork pads) over the Enve SES wheels (with the gray Enve wheels).

But then again, I never really had a problem with the braking on the Enve wheels, whether training or racing, road races and crits.

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Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099

I've ridden Zipp, Boyd, and others. I do a lot of group riding and most of the guys ride all carbon now. I think the latest generation of most brands brake well with the rights pads. My Aeolus are replacements for an older set of 404s with alu track. Seems to stop just as well using the Bontrager cork pads. Haven't been out in a downpour yet, but light rains were not an issue. Of course, I live in Florida so not braking for any long periods!

One thing to consider is whether you ever run aluminum training wheels. I find that I sometimes need to run an aluminum rim with my carbon wheel brake pads because I don't have time to switch pads. Cork pads absolutely suck on aluminum rims. The Zipp and Black Prince pads work well,